20 week scan nhs

[pinkgin8]

When you go for a 20 week scan. And the reason for that is to pick up any abnormalities or issues within the brain / body, although not all can be seen if not visibly possible/obvious

I'm just wondering what everyone else thinks, at a 20 week scan, if say half the brain of a child wasn't developed at 5 months pregnant, is that something they would see/ be able to see if they checked it, as I know they go through the layers of the brain thoroughly, or would it be "easy" to miss?

They do check the brain yes. Obviously not all possible issues are visible but they do several checks. Why are you particularly concerned about baby’s brain development?

I’m also not sure what you mean by “if half the brain wasn’t properly developed”. In what way? The brain is pretty complex... ultrasound doesn’t show all aspects of brain function and development anyway but there are some pretty major things they can check.

So as in literally half the brain not there. Or for example Just fluid in the spaces it hasn't developed.
I'm not concerned about anything in this specific time. I had the issue with my daughter before she was born and it was never picked up till after birth recently. But I've been told by multiple sonographers and a few drs it should of been noticed at that stage today so I was a bit shocked it wasn't, nothing major, I just wanted to see if anyone else had any thoughts to it, I feel like things she's gone through may have been prevented if it was noticed at that stage
I can post a picture as to what I mean (example of the internet)

Something like this

Hi OP.
Apologies, I’m struggling to understand what your question is. Can you tell me, what condition was your daughter born with?

Sorry if I'm not coming across right, if a child's brain looked like that at 20 weeks ((5 months pregnant)) should the sonographer of been able to of seen that when doing my 5 month scan check?

Yes they should have been able to pick that up op.

Was your other child born with hydrocephalus?

My first born , part of her brain on one side didn't develop properly similar to that photo
It isn't affecting her, She is completely fine mentality wise no speech effects etc all normal.
But I had literally no idea they should of seen it and I kind of felt bad it wasn't picked up
No luckily it wasn't that @seepingweeping the fluid that is there on her actual scan. Is just normal fluid filling the gaps if that makes sense

She basically had/still has a non cancerous tumour. I feel like if they saw that her brain was like that they would of done more scans before she was born and then saw the tumour developing or performed a mri when she was born and they'd of seen it before it got worse as I was told the tumour was there at birth slow growing and if it was spotted sooner she wouldn't of had brain surgery etc
She showed signs of problems due to the tumour when she was 12 months I just didn't know it was a tumour causing them
I was waiting for a year for them to listen to me and give her a mri , she wouldn't use her left side of her body much compared to the other and couldn't pick anything up with her left hand etc, despite my concern they didn't do anything until her eye and face swelled up and i demanded a scan

Just feel like they let her down with not giving her a mri scan when she was showing signs that weren't right, they left it till it was something they couldn't ignore and how they didn't spot something so obvious on a 20 week scan brain check

If the baby's brain looked like this at 20 weeks it would have been seen on the ultrasound.
However, sometimes something like this can develop later in a pregnancy after the 20 week scan and will not be known of unless the mum has another scan at a later stage.

Her neurology consultant said that it should of been seen at my 20 week scan, so I think it's more the fact that it just wasn't carried out properly, just wanted to see if others thought something like that would of or should of definitely been spotted and it should of like said below x

If the neurology consultant is sure that this was present at 20 weeks then that definitely should have been picked up by the scan and I'm shocked that it wasn't.
As well as further ultrasound scans your daughter would have had an MRI in-utero to obtain further information and plan any treatment following birth.
I'm sorry you are going through this x

Hi pinkgin8, my son had a brain tumour diagnosed/treated as a toddler which would have developed when he was in utero - but even with an MRI at 2.5 years it was missed (correctly diagnosed at 3.5). While I was pregnant I had fairly regular scans as I was seen privately, nothing was picked up there, but it would have been too small to see in our case.
I'm glad that I did not know when I was pregnant with him. We may have faced a terrible choice & it's possible we would not have the utterly wonderful child we have today.

I haven't had more children, but I would also have been nervous about things possibly going wrong. I understand how you're feeling.

You would be so unlucky to go through this again though - what have doctors told you about the likelihood? I would hope the odds would be really remote. But of course it would be nice to have assurance from a good scan.
I hope everything turns out well. Take care of yourself.

I am currently pregnant with a little boy,4 months.
It was tested and isn't genetic, just a really rare tumour that she sadly happened to get but the specific tumour itself isn't massively uncommon in children sadly! All the professionals have told me not to worry, this won't be the same
My daughter is perfectly normal, no disability from it etc so am very grateful for that
I am not worried about this pregnancy and i am looking forward to it and enjoying my pregnancy as it goes on!

@DailyCandy they missed it ??? I'm really sorry to hear that! You wouldn't think if it was spotted a year after they couldn't see it before
I think I'm more annoyed that I've been told it should of been spotted (the undeveloped areas) and it wasn't - cause it could of been something serious and I'd never of known!

Have you actually got scan pictures that show that it was visible at the 20 week scan? Because if you haven't then I'd have thought there was a possibility that it wasn't there to see, or certainly as obviously as that.

My dd was picked up at the 20 week scan missing her arm from below the elbow. It was obvious when you looked at the scan, but plenty are missed-I've known children missing more than she is for whom it isn't picked up on multiple scans.

What I did when I went for scan with #3 was I asked them specifically to look at his hands and feet and why. They looked and were able to count his fingers and toes, which was reassuring, even though I knew it wasn't genetic.

It's often debated round dd's charity whether it is better to know during the scan or not. Obviously this is a situation where knowing makes no difference medically, so it is different.
However as a general rule half the people feel it's better to know and prepare and half feel it's better to not know and have the worry before they're born because you just love them when you actually see them, and then it seems to matter less.

No, as they didn't see it, but by what the neurologist told me from studying her brain before her surgery and after they can "determine" when these things happened or started, same with a tumour

no idea how it works but for him to tell me it should of been spotted doesn't make me feel confident they did it right , it isn't something that is a massive problem, but if it was something serious and they have failed to see it makes you think well what if it was something that could of caused danger to her, for example hydrocephalus mentioned below, if a profession / professionals hadnt told me the above then I would assume it was not spotted as it wasn't there but it apparently was

I think I am just confused about the whole situation and don't know how to feel about it

I don't think any scan or opinion will give you full confidence sadly, your past experience won't permit it.
Yes... they missed it in the scan initially. It was hiding in the pituitary gland but already causing havoc. His symptoms worsened in the following year so I kept going back to different neurologists for second opinions.

The scans were reviewed another 3 times before the abnormality was detected... then they re-scanned and it was of course bigger. I can relate it calmly now but it was crazy making at the time. The drs just kept fobbing me off.

I was born with Hydracephalus so with my DS and with this pregnancy I have my 20 week scan with a Fetal consultant and not the normal sonographer department. This is to check the brain in detail and measure fluids etc in case one of my children has hydracephalus too

I was told this was necessary because the normal 20 week scan does an overview of the brain but they are not trained extensively to look for brain conditions and would need to refer anyway

You don't need a fetal medicine scan to pick up hydrocephalus. All sonographers are well trained and are able to diagnose it.
However, hydrocephalus is something that can develop at any time in-utero due to a number of reasons, such as infection / tumours etc.
Just because it's not there at 20 weeks doesn't mean it won't be at birth.
I've have scanned many babies in the third trimester that have had unilateral ventriculomegy which have had normal 20 week scans.

Thats what I was told and why I have the scans. They also scan me at 36 weeks too to double check it. As I said it was made clear to me why and I did not request it